This invention relates to the conversion of video information into a form suitable for storage in a computer and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for generating sequences of digital words representative of fields of video information.
Computer technology and television technology have both experienced great advances in recent years. However, there has been limited progress in joining computers and television due to the dissimilarity of their data rates. A television camera generates information at a tremendous rate; i.e., millions of scanned elemental areas or points per second, with the information at each point typically having an amplitude or brightness level that is representable by one of many levels or possible values. A typical television frame consists of spatial and intensity information which is in a format of hundreds of distinguishable points per line and hundreds of lines per frame. There are generally 30 frames per second for U.S. television format. The enormous amounts of video data would quickly saturate the conventional memory of most computers. Also, digital machines are generally incapable of receiving the information in memory in "real time" due to the high data rate.
The data format emanating from conventional television camera equipment is a further impediment to covenient computer storage of the information. The video information is typically in a rapidly varying analog form. On the other hand, most digital computers are designed for loading with digital words of eight or sixteen bits of information, and can accept these data words at a rate of about one word every one to three microseconds.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique for generating digital words from a video signal, the digital words being compatible with conventional computer formats and also being of a nature which can be readily accepted in real time by relatively small computers or other digital equipment. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a technique for converting video information into sequences of digital words which exclude portions of redundant information inherent in the video signal and can be adapted for pattern recognition, decision making, and control purposes.